Morales told me to fix WellMed case, says PhilHealth whistle-blower

Former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith on Tuesday said the state insurer's president and CEO Ricardo Morales gave him illegal orders which pushed him to eventually resign.

During a Senate hearing, Keith said he was instructed to "fix" the accreditation of a certain Dr. Portia Natividad as a health care provider. The said physician is allegedly related to the WellMed "ghost dialysis" issue.

"Four or five days before I resigned he told me to fix also the WellMed case also. I can no longer handle the illegal orders from General Morales," the resigned officer said.

Morales, on the other hand, refuted the allegation.

"The accusation of Atty. Keith regarding Dra. Portia Natividad, I asked him to clarify it, not to fix it. Because according to Dra. Natividad, her signature was forged in the claims so that is what I wanted him to clear up," the PhilHealth chief said.

Asked by senators what is his gain from solving the accreditation dilemma of the doctor, Morales said he was just "trying to help."

"Dr. Natividad's only source of income is only practicing her profession. I was approached by a Board member if I could do something about it," he said.

Morales also clarified that he did not order Keith to handle the accreditation of WellMed.

"Only of Dra. Portia Natividad because her accreditation was suspended, because she was named as one of the... she signed some of the documents claimed by WellMed," he added.

Morales, later on, said the doctor was an acquaintance of PhilHealth Board member Marlene Padua.

During the same hearing, Keith reiterated that he was ordered by Morales to talk to Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) chief Greco Belgica to iron out the issue of PhilHealth's "overpriced" COVID-19 testing package.

Morales admitted that he asked Keith to "liaise" with PACC to clarify that there had been no overpricing. He said PhilHealth stoods firm there was no overpriced COVID-19 testing package.

"I thought that a simple clarification with PACC would resolve the matter. I did not tell him to massage, I never used that word," the PhilHealth chief said. -NB, GMA News